Janet and Harry met as experienced improvisers in 1995, and in 1996 began to record their session with the intent of making Apparatus. All the recordings are from those live improvised playing sessions with the addition of one live concert recording. To preserve the integrity of the sessions, they refrained from mising or overdubbing. The result was a unified sound that is spontaneous, exciting and sometimes gritty.

Janet improvised on piccolo and flute. Her sound was amplified and processed electronically to add echo, pitch shifting, stereo panning, and other effects. Most effects were achieved using a Silicon Graphics computer running MAX, a real-time digital processing program. This allowed for parameters suchc as the time between echoes or the depth of pitch shifting, to be automated sot that they could be constantly changing, giving Janet a dynmaic environment in which to play.

Harry used his custom "Penginstrument" software running on an Amiga 3000. The software provided interactive control over software methods tha could be invoked to produce note events to be realized on a Yamaha TX802 synthesizer. The software was responsive enough to alow for sensitive musical interaction with other players, and served as Harry's instrument. Addictional qualities such as voice selection, effect processing and stereo panning were manipulated throughout a given performance as part of the real time compositional process. The TX802 voices were all been synthesized by Harry, and were used in all pieces except Blue Mensuration, which used a prepared disklavier under Pegstrument control.